


Love is a life taker

by psychoxcutie



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Background Demogorgon (Stranger Things), Eleven | Jane Hopper is a Byers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Will Byers, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Multi, Protective Max, Sad Will Byers, The Upside Down, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler Fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 20:55:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20627396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychoxcutie/pseuds/psychoxcutie
Summary: Some years have passed and even though Will Byers goes to the same school as his (former) best friends, their friendship is not like it used to be: they've grown up and made new friends, so the party is not far from separating. Dustin, Lucas and Will are still the school nerds while Mike is now one of the popular kids.At the same time, as if trying to deal with his broken friendship and longtime crush weren't enough, he keeps getting some glimpses of the Upside Down while being in the real world. The worst part is that he prefers not to tell anyone, as he can't trust his friends like he used to, so he tries to put the pieces together by himself.(In this story the Byers stay in Hawkins and the Hoppers live with them.)





	1. one - it's just another day

Will woke up with the sound of a rock song he didn't recognize coming from Jonathan's room, so he assumed his brother didn't have to go to work. He was awake, yet he felt like he still was in the dream world. 

As soon as he heard Jonathan's footsteps approaching his room, he fully covered himself with his blanket and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. It was a thing he always did to his brother, although he wasn't sure why. 

"Will? Are you awake?" He asked, and Will forced himself to hold back a chuckle, as he remembered doing that with Mike a couple of years ago. Every time they would sleep together with Dustin and Lucas in Mike's basement, and while they were actually asleep, Will and Mike only pretended to be whenever Mrs. Wheeler came to check on them. They would burst out laughing after making sure she was gone. 

After a while, he pretended to wake up. 

"Yeah, what time is it?" He asked in an exaggerating sleepy voice to convince his brother. 

"It's 7:30, you better get ready for school. I fixed you some pancakes." He said in a worried tone, he did not want him to be late for school after all. 

"Thanks," He paused to fake a yawn, "I promise I'll be ready in no time." A playful smile formed on his lips. 

Jonathan just chuckled at that and left the room, giving him the time necessary to wash and get dressed. While he was having breakfast, his brother turned off the music and sat next to him. 

"Do you want me to give you a ride or something?" Will almost choked on his food, already knowing why Jonathan asked him. 

"Don't worry about me, I'll cycle to school." He kept avoiding his brother's gaze and suddenly he got interested in a small puddle the maple syrup formed in his plate. 

"Are you sure? What if those guys pick on you again?" Jonathan stared at Will, desperately trying to look him in the eyes, but Will was too nervous to even look up. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted his brother to think he was anything but weak or a coward, so he tried to convince himself that he would be fine. 

"I'm not a little kid anymore, I'll be fine, really." He sounded angrier than he meant to, but Jonathan didn't seem to notice it, he took the hint and just nodded. 

"Okay, but if they call you names or worse, attack you physically, you'll have to tell me. Promise?" 

"Promise."

Jonathan ruffled his hair affectionately, then went to his room and left him be.   
Will didn't ask about El, she never was home most of the time, so he didn't think much about it. 

She didn't go to school because his mother stated that it would be too dangerous for her, and a small part of him evilly thought that at least he wouldn't see her making out with Mike in the school halls. He quickly shook the thought away, feeling stupid, as he always did whenever Mike lingered on his mind. 

He went outside, climbed on his bike and, as he tried to think about anything other than Mike Wheeler, he arrived at Hawkins High much sooner than he expected. Of course, he was alone and neither Dustin nor Lucas were in sight. Those were the bad news, but there was some good news, too: there was no sight of Mike, not even his 'new friends' were around, and that meant he wouldn't get picked on at least that day. 

Right? That's what he hoped every single day, but they always found a way to tease him or straight out verbally attack him. 'Ace and his gang' (that's how he called them) always called him a freak, a fag or a queer, sometimes they even insulted his family for no reason at all.

He knew he liked boys, but he couldn't even fathom how those guys could know, he never told anyone. He shrugged it off melancholically, thinking that bullies always seemed to know everything about their victims, even that they were queer before they came out to anyone.

He could bear all those names, those meaningless threats and insults, but the worst part of it all was that Mike didn't do anything to stop them. His mind was clouded by the hurt and invading, ugly thoughts, so he tried to focus on simple things like the school hallways as he got inside. 

They were frighteningly empty. 

Fear came back again, like a hornet that constantly follows you until it stings you, but this time he was afraid of some stupid, yet evil, prank made by Ace or Victor or Troy. He expected his pranks practically every day, it was like a daily routine and Will had almost gotten used to it. 

Suddenly he heard them. The heavy boot footsteps behind him. A chill ran through his arms and his eyes widened instinctively; he figured that if he was fast enough he could safely reach his classroom and escape danger. The footsteps weren't even that close to him, the distance between him and whoever-it-was was in his favor. 

He started walking forward, slowly, as if not wanting to trigger him. His pace grew faster, but when he almost started running a voice broke the silence. 

"Will. Hey, Will!" 

He deeply exhaled in relief, but he refused to face him nonetheless. He recognized Dustin Henderson's voice, a voice that didn't instill fear like most of Hawkins High's teen voices; it made Will feel a warm sensation in his chest, the same he got when his brother helped him every time his homework got too hard, or when bullies made the mistake of picking on him when Jonathan was nearby. 

Quick footsteps were heard and now Will could feel Dustin's presence behind him but the scare he got earlier  
(false alarm)   
still made him refuse to turn around. 

"You finally came! I almost thought you could not cut it." Dustin beamed at him. 

This time he turned to face him and stared deep into his eyes, like a psycho, the bullies would say, and he wasn't fully at ease yet. How much had it been since Dustin had spoken a word to him? He could not remember, but he was sure it was a really long time ago. 

"Why is no one around?" He asked, ignoring Dustin's small talk, too weirded out to pay attention to it. Dustin's smile faded away and it turned into a serious expression. 

"What? You mean you don't know?" 

Will gave him a look of disbelief. 

"Jesus, Will! You're twenty minutes late, you know that?" He said with a tone that sounded half worried and half disappointed. 

Will's pupils shrunk at his words. How could he be late? Did he perhaps take too long cycling to school? It didn't really matter, Will preferred to see the bright side, which was at least he hadn't run into Ace and his friends.   
But there was that mischievous voice in the back of his head that, even though it was merely a whisper, he could hear it well and it said: yet. 

He swallowed a lump in his throat, trying to focus on Dustin's face, which now twisted into an annoyed expression, so now Will knew he had been probably spacing out. 

"Will? Are you even listening to me?" 

"Yeah. Sorry, you were saying?" 

"I was wondering if you'd like to join Lucas and me at lunch. It's been so long since the three of us have hung out. But now you really should go to class."

"Why aren't you in your classroom anyway?" He changed the topic, purposefully shrugging off Dustin's offer. 

"I asked Mr. Robineau to go to the restroom, but it was an excuse to meet Lucas." He affirmed nonchalantly. Will thought the situation couldn't get any more awkward, so he just waved him goodbye and went to his locker to pick his books up as fast as he could. He had to stop and think for five minutes to remember what he had at first period, which was English with Mrs. Phillips. As soon as he remembered he ran until he found her classroom. 

As soon as he entered the room, after knocking, Mrs. Phillips shot him a worried look before asking him if he was alright. He didn't feel like sharing his thoughts with his teacher so he merely said an I'm fine thank you before sitting down, feeling a little too embarrassed when the kids around him suddenly started to give him weird looks or bluntly laugh at him. He still was zombie boy after all that time. 

He kept feeling awkward and nervous for the whole period as Mrs. Phillips persistently looked at him the same way his mother used to whenever he had one of his Shadow Monster episodes.   
He hated it. He hated how everyone would treat him like he was made of glass, as if he was a breath away from breaking. The evil voice in the back of his head came back again and it said everyone but Mike. He felt his cheeks getting hotter at any second. 

\- At lunch -

The school cafeteria was busy as always and it made Will feel lost and uneasy until he saw his favorite familiar faces. He approached them while trying to go unnoticed (the queer kid of the school always had quite a reputation) and fought his instinct to walk away. 

"Hi guys," he greeted them, but he scolded himself in his mind when his voice made a high pitched sound. 

"Hey, Byers," Lucas replied with a faint smile. Dustin had a shocked look on his face as if he was happily surprised that Will had shown up. 

"We were just talking about you," Dustin pointed to him gleefully, but his glee progressively disappeared when he noticed Will hadn't even sat with them. "We were thinking, uh..." He paused for a while, giving Lucas a desperate look as if wanting him to continue.

"We're going to a party on Saturday," Lucas rolled his eyes at Dustin, "We hoped you'd come with us. It's just for the sake of the good old times." 

"The good old times?" Will repeated in disbelief and gave them a confused look, earning a nod from both. 

"Not to sound rude, but... we used to hang out together. Just the four of us. No parties, no people. Just us." He shrugged, giving them a look of betrayal. Lucas and Dustin exchanged a nervous glance before replying. 

"Yeah, but we didn't mean it like that." Lucas began, only to be interrupted by Dustin. 

"What we mean is... you, Lucas, Mike and I could go to the party together. If you want."

Will clenched his fists and held himself back before he could snap at them. They haven't spoken to me for months, all they did was say good-mornings and byes and see-you-laters, let alone Mike who just straight out ignored me, and now they want to go to a stupid party together?

"Who's throwing the party?" He found himself asking instead of speaking the truth, as he always did with them. They were his best friends and he respected them and all, but he didn't tell them everything, not always at least. Not Mike, though. He would always tell anything and everything to Mike. 

"Victor Bennett," Lucas said nervously through gritted teeth, he probably knew that Will would have never said yes. Will made a disgusted grimace, but Dustin interrupted him before he could say anything. 

"I know what you're thinking. He's an asshole, he picks on younger kids, but he throws the best parties. We've never been to one of his parties, so we'd like to try at least once. Together. If you don't like it, you can go home early and I promise we'll never ask you to come to any other party again."

He deeply sighed, in fact it sounded like he said those things all at once and Will felt even more anxious. He didn't fancy parties, but he didn't want to leave his friends like that, especially because Dustin always knew how to convince people. He used the usual trick of  
making those big sweet eyes whenever somebody would deny him something. 

"Okay, fine, I'll go." Will declared while Dustin and Lucas high-fived in triumph, earning a frown from Will. "But promise me we'll all stick together. Promise you won't dump me for Max or anyone else."

"Don't worry, it'll just be us four, really." Lucas reassured him with a grin. 

"Who else is gonna be there? And what are we gonna do?" Now he was more curious; he couldn't believe they wanted to fix the crack that had formed some years ago. Lucas was overwhelmed by Will's sudden interest. 

"Apart from us, Mike, Ace, that asshole Troy and other people you don't know. I think there will be lots of talking and dancing and drinking and-" 

Will's heart skipped a beat when he heard Mike's name and he suddenly stopped listening. As if on cue, he noticed that pretty boy enter the school cafeteria with Ace and some other guys he never learned the names of. He found himself staring at him as if he was the most beautiful person on Earth and suddenly he was grateful for the hundred people surrounding him. 

At some point, Mike locked eyes with Will and he felt like he was a breath away from fainting. He hated himself for feeling like that for every small thing Mike did, it made him feel weak and helpless as if he depended on him. But he couldn't help it. 

The last thing he knew, Mike was right next to him. 

" 'Sup, guys." He simply said, and yet Will could understand so much from those two words. The way he spoke to them with his pretty smile, with his sweet and oddly confident tone. How could he be so careless? How could he pretend like everything was alright? 

"I just remembered, you guys coming to Victor's party?" He asked in a nonchalant way. He was so close that Will could smell his sweet and sour scent and it was intoxicating. 

"Sure, Mike. What about El?" Dustin asked. 

"She can't. Otherwise, you know, Hop would skin me alive." Mike said in an annoyed tone, but he finished with a burst of laughter. 

"Even you, Will?" Mike asked and he seemed to notice Will just now. I wouldn't be surprised if he was ignoring me.

"Y-Yeah, I guess." He said while not making eye contact, sounding more standoffish than he meant to and earning a puzzled look from Mike. 

"Woah, that's..." 

"At what time, Mike?" Dustin cut him off. He didn't like the way Will was looking at Mike, he looked offended and like he wanted to kill him; he didn't know why and it was freaking him out. 

"9 pm. We might stay up till midnight or even dawn. You're going to stay the whole night, right?" 

"Why don't we just wait and see?" Dustin proposed with a smirk and Will didn't recognize him anymore. Mike smirked back in satisfaction. 

"Cool, see you there." 

He gleefully smiled briefly at Will, who was now a flushing mess. He barely smiled at him without saying anything, and he knew that Saturday was gonna be the worst living nightmare he could think of.


	2. two - ancient feelings

Will couldn't stop thinking about Victor's party, he was nervous, thrilled and scared at the same time. He was so terrified he had decided to get ready half an hour before the party even started and it was weird of him, since he always got ready for a meeting at least twenty minutes earlier.

Why am I so nervous? I need to calm down. He thought as he self-consciously watched his hands quiver. What was wrong with him? He kept wondering, but he knew well enough. Firstly, he was going to Victor's, a guy he'd never known (who'd bullied him and called him a freak a couple of times), whose house he'd never seen, and he was going to do what? Dance with his friends? Drink? Socialize? As he thought about it he couldn't help but catch his breath. He never liked dancing, he wasn't going to drink, and most importantly, he didn't want to meet new people. 

More than that, he was going to see Mike. Jeez, it was almost the worst thing about the party. Just almost, because at least he could look at him without him or anyone else noticing, as they would be too busy to pay attention. He had so many mixed feelings about Mike and it gave him the butterflies, but not just in a positive way. He had always liked him, he'd had a crush on him for so many years he didn't even remember how long it had been. 

But he hated him at the same time, because after all the years they'd spent together, now it was as if his memory had been wiped clean, and then suddenly he just showed up in spite of months of silence and invited him to a party. 

He used to be my... 

"Best friend! I swear you're my best friend!" 

Will shouted cheerfully at Mike, who was blushing and rubbing his own arm in bashfulness. Will couldn't even think straight and he was so excited he threw his hands around Mike's neck and he felt like he could promise him anything and everything. 

"It's not a big deal." Mike had minimized, looking at the ground. 

"Are you kidding me? You scared Troy off and he won't bother me again thanks to you!" 

"I doubt he won't ever bother you again." Mike had shaken his head in disbelief, but Will remembered well enough that he had hugged him back. Tightly. 

"So this makes you my best friend, right? Mom said that whoever sticks up for me is a true friend."

"Of course! I'm gonna punch him the next time he shoves you like that!" Mike had said defensively, to which Will had only replied by hugging him even more tightly. 

"You're choking me!" Mike had said between giggles. 

"Nobody has ever done that for me. They all look at me weird, like something's wrong with me. But you don't and you're awesome."

"No, you are awesome! You like videogames, Dungeons and Dragons, science... and you don't say that I look like a frog." He finished the sentence with an eye roll. Will chuckled. 

"So... is it a deal?" 

"What?" 

"Will you be my best friend?" 

Mike had taken Will's hand in his, as if it was a life depending promise. 

"Yes, of course I will." 

A single tear streamed down Will's face as the memories came, but, as he glimpsed at the clock, they faded as fast as they had come. 

Will decided he had to finally choose something to wear for the party, but he didn't have anything that wasn't too fancy or too casual. In the end, he just picked a pair of blue jeans, a denim jacket, a plain red t-shirt and a pair of white sneakers, unexpectedly finding himself wondering whether Mike would like it or not. 

"Hey, Will." Joyce entered his room, startling him a bit, feeling embarrassed because she saw what he was wearing and now he would probably stay home; she would never let him leave the house at night, let alone to go to a party. Thinking about it, it wasn't really a bad idea to spend the whole night at home. He would be safe from Ace's bullshit, he wouldn't have to deal with the huge crush he had on Mike, he wouldn't have to—

"You look nice," she gave him a proud look, "What's the occasion?" she asked in a tone that was half excited, half curious. Will wasn't sure how to reply, but he didn't want to lie. 

"I'm going to... a party." He affirmed casually as if it was the most natural thing in the world, but his face and his voice were everything but confident. He immediately regretted saying those words, because now Joyce was looking at him as if he were crazy. 

"Really? Right now?" She said in confusion as she pointed at the window, which showed a dark navy sky. She soon replaced her puzzled expression with a hopeful one, as if she was suddenly and unexpectedly satisfied.  
"It doesn't matter. Have fun, honey. But please, come back at midnight on the dot."

Will's face lit up and he felt... freer. That feeling he got was both sweet and sour. It was warm, but both cozy warm and unbearably hot. It was inebriating and it was smothering. 

"Great! See you later, mom." He said with an excitement he didn't even know he had. 

He left the house and climbed on his bike, but then his heart skipped a beat as he thought: he didn't even know where Victor's house was. At first, he was tempted to just stay home, call Dustin and tell him he couldn't make it, but then he realized. He went to his room and picked up his supercom.

"Dustin, do you copy? Over." He waited for some time, he almost gave up, but then Dustin's voice was heard from the device. 

"Hey, Will, I copy. What's wrong? Over." His words were kind of hard to decipher. Will remembered that when his mother bought him the walkie, she had said their house didn't have much signal. 

"I... don't know where Victor lives. Can we cycle there together? Over."

"You actually agreed to go to a party without knowing where it's host? Over." Dustin sounded more amused rather than disappointed. Will rolled his eyes and silently cursed before replying. 

"So can we go together or not? Over." 

"Of course, I'll meet you at your house. Over and out."

So Will went outside again and waited for him, but he was getting so bored that he suddenly got interested in a strange sound coming from the shed. It was like something was scratching the inside of the wooden wall from inside, and the door was surprisingly ajar. Wasn't it closed before? Maybe I didn't notice...

He approached the shed slowly and cautiously, going out of his way not to make a sound. When he reached the entrance, he felt a chill run down his spine, and he didn't know what it could be making that noise, but he suddenly realized he didn't really want to find out. 

As if the odds had been reading his mind, the door slowly and sinisterly opened by itself. The noise was getting closer and closer and now it sounded more like a wild animal scratching the wood with its claws, but it had never happened before, they were careful and always closed the door to prevent anyone or anything to get inside. 

It couldn't be... could it?  
He mustered up some courage and got inside, expecting the unexpected. The noise was unbearably loud now. If it was an animal provoking it, it surely was a really big one, which meant it had really big claws. 

He took a glance at it, forgetting to turn on the light, and all he saw was something that looked like a really, really dark amalgam between a dog and a velociraptor. Nothing like that existed in real life, but he didn't have time to think about some plausible explanations as he was frozen, too scared to even move, and if it had attacked, he would have probably stayed put and wait for his death. 

But that's not what he did, because he caught its attention by stepping on a plank that had broken and tilted upwards. The sound it made was screeching, and as Will mentally cursed himself, the deformed creature turned its little head towards him. His instinct told him to run and don't look back, but he wanted to take a good look at the weird animal first. He turned on the lights and something shook him to the core: the creature opened its jaws and let out a high pitched shriek as soon as the light appeared. Will knew what it was: it was the whelp of a demogorgon. 

He grabbed the door handle not to lose his balance as he felt like fainting. The baby demogorgon was now banging on the wall, probably to get out and escape that room that was too hot and too illuminated for its taste. 

"Will! Where are you?" 

It was Dustin. Bad timing.  
Will acted fast, but he didn't know whether his idea would have worked or not. He quickly turned off the lights so the baby demogorgon wouldn't escape, eventually killing and eating and impregnating to make other demogorgons. He watched as it instantly calmed down and stopped banging on the wall, but now he was looking at Will threateningly. Without thinking twice, he went outside, closed the door and locked it. Just to make sure, he dragged some heavy objects in front of it so the demogorgon wouldn't break the door easily. Safe.

Before he could even register what happened, Dustin approached him, but luckily for Will, the demogorgon stopped pounding on the wall from inside. He thought that it may have calmed down and it started scratching the wall again, just like a cat does when it wants to sharpen its claws. 

"Man, you look like you've seen a ghost," Dustin stared at him agape, interrupting his thoughts. 

"Yeah, I guess I'm just n-nervous for the party. T-That's all." He stopped to catch his breath, which he didn't know he had been holding the whole time. "So, shall we go?" He finally said to prevent Dustin from asking any other questions. Dustin gave him a confused look but shrugged it off as he knew Will was the most anxious and shy guy of the party. 

They ran on their bikes as fast as the wind and they didn't say a thing for the whole ride, except for Dustin's indications every now and then. As soon as they arrived at the party, they noticed the house was packed and some loud rock music was put on full blast. Will thought that the neighbors would have called the police on them, but then he realized — there were no neighbors. It was just that huge house in the middle of the countryside, and it clashed a lot with the environment. 

"Byers, Henderson, you made it!" 

It was Mike, as bright and cheerful as ever, his nose and cheeks were a lively shade of red, probably because of the cold mixed with whatever he had been drinking, since he was holding a glass. Will scrunched up his nose when he felt the strong odor of that drink fill his lungs. What the hell is that?

He noticed he was wearing a white t-shirt under a blood-red jacket, black jeans and a pair of black leather boots. Has he been getting style advice by that jerk Ace or what? He thought with disgust, refusing to admit that he also thought he actually looked good. 

"Of course, what did you think?" Dustin joked. 

"It's... so crowded and loud." Will remarked, but it was as if his mouth was moving on his own. His brain was still racking, thinking about the baby demogorgon he saw a few minutes earlier; his skin got pale and his breath was ragged, he couldn't help but still think about what happened in the shed, it wasn't something you saw every day, after all. After realizing he was zoning out, he noticed Mike had finally taken a good look at him, but he looked... kind of annoyed. 

"I'm not surprised. You never had a thing for parties." Mike said with what looked to be disgust in his eyes. 

Dustin looked like his eyeballs would jump out of his sockets for a moment and Will skipped one or two heartbeats. They stayed silent for a while, so Dustin parted his lips to say something, but Will preceded him. 

"I thought you didn't like parties either, but look at you." Will kept having that strange feeling like it was someone else in the back of his throat that made him speak, not him. 

"Guys, come on," Dustin said when he noticed Mike smirking at Will, but it wasn't an amused smirk, nor a cheerful one. 

"It's not my fault you're still a nerd. Grow up a little." Mike snapped, careful not to raise his voice too much. 

Will stared at him, mouth agape. He felt a stinging pain in the back of his eyes, the kind you feel when tears threaten to fall down. He didn't want to give Mike the power to ruin his night, so he walked away before he could say anything he would have regretted later. 

"Mike, seriously? You know he feels uncomfortable at parties, especially if they're thrown by one of the guys who like tormenting him." Dustin said in a reproaching way, to which Mike only shrugged and he was about to walk away, but Dustin grabbed his arm to stop him. The corners of Mike's mouth turned upwards in disgust. 

"What are you doing?" 

"We don't want any of your bullshit tonight, okay? Leave him alone. Oh, even better..." He paused as if making an effort to think about the best prank to pull. "You'll apologize to him."

"What? Are you serious, man? It's not a big deal, I wasn't being rude to him or anything."

"But did you see the look on his face?" Dustin said like it was obvious. "Look, it's been... I don't even remember how much time has passed since we've all hung out together! And... where's Lucas?" 

"Said he had plans with Max." He rolled his eyes while saying her name. 

"Will's not at ease, okay? Just give him some time to adjust."

"And you know that because...? I'm his best friend, or, well... was. The thing is, I don't believe he told you all that. He always trusted me more than you or Lucas."

"You're so protective of your best friend and yet you haven't spoken a word to him for—" 

"A year and two months, precisely." 

Dustin stared at him with widened eyes.  
"You've been counting?"

"Of course, I... ugh, I have to admit it. I missed you, as I missed Will and Lucas. But you know, we don't have to hang out 24-7." He said with a standoffish expression. 

"Alright, why have you been counting?" 

"I told you, I've been missing you guys."

"Yeah, but has it ever crossed your mind that you could have just said hi at least once?" 

"It doesn't matter now," Mike said out of nowhere, turning his back on Dustin.  
"But still, I wanna make it up to him."

"You literally just said you weren't being rude to him and now you want to make it up to him?" Dustin raised his hands in disbelief. Mike placed his glass on a table nearby before replying. 

"I want to make it up to him because it's been so long since we've spoken to each other, not because of what I said earlier."

And with that he just walked away, leaving Dustin on his own. As he thought about the way Mike walked, talked and acted (and even dressed), he deemed that Ace and the other 'bad guys' of the school had influenced him too much for his own good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll do weekly updates, what do you think about it? Also thank you for reading this!!


	3. three - social nightmare

Will didn't really know where to go, he just wanted to get as far from Mike as possible. He went to Victor's living room, where the party was the loudest, and as he entered he couldn't believe his ears. Everyone was dancing to Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses, but even though Will liked that kind of music, now it was an unbearable pain to the ears.

His anger slowly faded away as time passed, but he couldn't recover from the shock of when he saw that baby demogorgon. He reassured himself that at least it was just a whelp, therefore it couldn't impregnate human beings. _But it could still kill __them,_ said a little voice in the back of his head.

Now he regretted going to the party. What if it went out of the shed and is now on the loose? What if something bad happened to mom or Jonathan? He would never forgive himself.

He felt the sudden need to leave, without bothering to give any explanations to Dustin. He would come back home and... and then what? He surely didn't have the means to defeat a creature from the Upside Down, but at the same time, he couldn't tell Dustin or Lucas or Mike either. At least he had locked the door and turned the lights off, so perhaps the demogorgon liked it there and wasn't planning to get out.

However, he hoped with every bit of his heart that his mother didn't wander in there or hear the noise the monster kept making with its claws. _How did it get there anyway? Weren't those things all dead? Didn't Eleven help us get rid of them?_

"Will! Will!" He heard a faint voice shouting his name through all the chaos. He recognized it as Mike's, but he didn't want to deal with him, he was too busy with the demogorgon thing. He turned his back on him and walked towards the opposite direction. How was he supposed to kill it? He could use his father's rifle, but what if the demogorgon will have grown to an adult by the time he finds a way to defeat it?

"Will, wait!" Mike's voice sounded suddenly closer and it was driving Will crazy. _What the heck could he want?_ he thought as he climbed up the stairs. He was going to find a secluded room to lock himself in and think. He couldn't focus on the demogorgon if the music and shouting were too loud.

He stopped in next to a closed door and despite knowing he could find two people getting involved in some nasty stuff, he opened it. But it was, luckily for him, empty and dark. He looked around to make sure no one could see him, but as he turned his head, he saw no one in the corridor, where he had previously seen at least a dozen people.

Suddenly the music stopped and the room around him got darker, dirtier, colder. The air became so rarefied it was almost unbreathable and Will had to inhale and exhale slowly a couple of times before he could breathe normally again.

The world around him turned into a bluish hue. He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance as if they were climbing up the stairs, just as he did a few minutes earlier. He quickly but silently entered the bedroom on instinct, then he carefully closed the door and hid behind the king-sized bed. He was holding his breath to avoid making any kind of noise. Pearls of cold sweat made their way down Will's forehead, but despite the sweat, he felt frozen.

_I'm in the Upside Down oh God I'm in the Upside Down_

He recognized the footsteps, the sound they made when stomping on the floor. He could recognize them anywhere - a full-grown demogorgon.  
He didn't have any weapons to defend himself, he was trapped in a room, so he couldn't stand a chance against it, but if he stayed put and silent the whole time, he could make it out alive. There was a window, so if things got worse, he would jump out of it as it wasn't too high from up there.

The footsteps got closer, but they were slow. Suddenly Will heard the door being opened and it eerily screeched. He felt a heavy weight on his chest and he could do nothing to stop it, but he considered it best to die of fear than to be killed by that creature.

Now the footsteps came from the other side of the bed and Will felt like fainting. At the count of three, he would jump out of the window with all the strength he had, not caring about a possible bad landing.

_One..._ Now he could hear its breathing...

_Two... _It let out a low howl as if struggling to detect its prey.

_Three!_ But when he stood up, he felt a pair of hands touching his shoulders.

"Will, are you okay?"

The room's temperature rose abruptly, the colors around him got warmer and Will felt like he could breathe again. He was getting so used to the Upside Down air that he forgot how to breathe properly, so he kept panting for a while. He looked up and saw Mike's worried face a few inches away from him.

"Will, say something!" He shouted as he continuously grabbed and shook Will's shoulders. Will was conscious, but he preferred not to say anything for a while as he wanted to adjust to his new surroundings first. It always seemed so easy to get used to the Upside Down, but it never truly was and Will knew better than everyone else.

Feeling Mike's warm hands and hot breath contributed to making him feel a little safer.  
_If someone here just started bleeding it would smell it it would smell it and come here and kill everyone in its way_

"Will!" Mike was now so close to Will that sometimes he could feel his lips barely touching his. Will's face scrunched up at Mike's loud voice.

"Stop it, Mike, you're too loud." Will finally said nonchalantly, pushing Mike off of him and almost walking away, but the other one grabbed his wrist before he could.

"I can't believe you right now!" Mike sighed in frustration before continuing. "I'm just making sure you're okay and that's how you respond? By _shoving_ me?"

Will understood that maybe he was being rude, but he couldn't stop thinking about the demogorgon and the danger all the people at the party were in.

"Mike, why did you follow me?" Will changed the subject while Mike frowned at him in confusion.

"In case you didn't notice, I was calling you in the living room. But I suppose you didn't hear me with all that music." Mike explained. Now he was not as close as earlier and Will felt the tension loosen up.

"What do you want, then?" Will snapped, sounding angrier than he meant to.

"I just wanted to- I just..." Mike paused for a few minutes, still holding Will's wrist, grabbing it even more tightly whenever Will moved. He couldn't find the words to say how much he missed him and Dustin and Lucas, how he was sorry for ignoring them the whole year.

_But_ at the same time, he had been wanting to focus on other relationships as well, such as the one with Eleven or his friendship with Ace and Victor.

He was sorry, but did he really have something to be sorry for? He just wanted to make new friends, after all. _Yeah, friends that bully your childhood friends... how pretty,_ Mike thought.

"What, Mike?" Will said, but he looked more curious rather than impatient and Mike was comforted by it. _I'm sorry Will I didn't mean to be a jerk I'm sorry but what am I actually sorry for?_  
He kept fighting with his own mind and didn't know how to begin, but he needed to say something before Will lost interest.

"I'm- I'm sorry, Will."

Will goggled at him. "You're... sorry? Why?"

Mike was at a loss for words, he didn't really know how to respond now as he wasn't expecting Will's question - truthfully, he was expecting him to tell him to fuck off. Unfortunately for him, he made the mistake of looking everywhere apart from Will's face and muttering some _sorry's_ and _please's_, so in the end, Will yanked his arm off his and walked away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Mike yelled, raising his hands in defeat.

"Mike, there's something important I have to tell you." Will declared, but his brain was screaming, claiming he _must not_ tell anyone about the demogorgon. The party wasn't as united as it used to be, so they would have probably either laughed at him or told him he was crazy.

"Well, I need to tell you something, too. So please, don't go away. Just let me finish."

"Whatever it is, what I have to tell you is way more important." Will affirmed while Mike frowned in discouragement.

"Are you gonna crush my feelings like that?"  
_His feelings? Could it mean..._ Will thought, but he knew it couldn't be what he hoped.

"Alright, you go first. But be quick. We're all risking our lives by staying here." Mike got a little worried about what he said, but he was more focused on how he should arrange his apologies.

"Okay, I'm sorry for... well, everything." He began, then he cleared his throat before continuing. "For ignoring you and being an asshole the whole time. I guess I just wanted to grow up, make new friends and... yeah, like, become a teenager. I'm sorry but I'm not interested in playing games like a little kid anymore, I know you care about it but it is what it is. I have a girlfriend now and-"

"Mike," Will cut him off.

"What?" Mike could feel his cheeks get hotter at any second; he never was comfortable with speaking about his feelings.

"There's something more important than all this."

Mike shot him a glare, so Will tried to rephrase it. "I mean, I accept your apologies, but there's no need to apologize. I know, I get it, it's no big deal. As you said, it is what it is." He said all at once as if trying to get rid of those words as fast as possible.  
There was a threat in that house, and he should tell him. Everyone should know. _But what if they don't believe me?_

At some point, Mike pinned Will to the wall. His body hit the wall with a thud and it happened so fast Will barely had time to process it - Mike's strong grip was turning his arms numb.

"Mike, what the hell are you doing? Let me go!" He shouted in panic, unsure of what was going on in his friend's mind. His grip was oppressing, but not too violent. In a matter of minutes, it became less strong until Mike was merely holding Will's arms.

"This is what I don't like about you. You always act like everything's alright when clearly your life is crumbling down around you."

Will's breath was ragged and he kept panting nervously, still processing what was happening. _We should worry about the real threat why does he keep talking and talking about this but I like how he's worried for me but we're so screwed_

"I _am_ fine, Mike." He lied, but his tone was calm enough to make it sound true. Mike's body was so close to Will he felt kind of oppressed, but at the same time it felt like heaven, it felt really good to have him against him, although he didn't understand why.

"Really? Then what are those murdery looks you shoot me at the school cafeteria?"

"You replaced us, Mike. Don't expect me to feel like it's all good."

"Then why didn't you open up to me? All I asked was for you to be honest with me."

"If I really was honest with you, you would never speak to me again!" Will abruptly snapped. Mike looked him up and down in confusion and then tilted his head to the left. Will regretted saying that because he knew that now Mike wanted to know what he meant, which he wanted _nobody_ to know.

"Why?" Mike's voice cracked.  
His hands were still pressed on Will's shoulders and now he didn't want to let him go. Will managed to free himself from Mike's clutch and with one arm he tried to reach for the door's handle.

"You're not going anywhere," Mike claimed after grabbing Will's arm so hard that he winced. "We _need_ to talk."

"No, Mike. We're at a party, we don't have to talk. If you actually wanted to fix this you would have done it a long time ago. But you didn't care then and you don't care now."

Will's voice cracked while reproaching him with the resolve he'd never thought he had. Mike was so shocked and angry that he held his breath for God knows how long, and when he parted his lips to say something, Will cut him off before he could explode.

"I have to go now. We might be in danger."

Mike glared at him.  
"You _have_ to go? Will we ever finish what we started?"

"You mean talking about all this? Whenever you want, you know, I'm not a busy person."

He felt like somebody else was speaking through his mouth as if it wasn't him anymore but just a hollow body with a soul made of stone, numbed by all the pain he'd faced in the past years.

Mike gave him a weak smile and nodded, but it was enough to spark something inside of Will. It meant that, despite all the fights, Mike would have apologized and they would have made up in the end. _Maybe not all hope is lost._ **Right?** Said the evil little voice in his head.

"Then tomorrow. At school, if you want, or we can meet later at my house or at the park, in the woods, anywhere. Just please, let me talk to you."

_I sound so desperate right now he's gonna change his mind I fucked up,_ Mike was always confusing the thoughts in his head, always wondering whether he was good enough. But _this_ was something new: he had always cared about his best friend, but why was he getting so desperate after ignoring him for a whole year? He thought he cared when he didn't _and_ the other way around, too.

Before Will could even answer, a dull, heavy sound was heard from downstairs.


	4. four - somebody to trust

It was like when an earthquake takes place: everyone starts screaming in white terror, unsure of how to act. Will heard people screaming from every direction and they were suffocating. Those people were screaming and shouting before, they were having fun and they were drinking and singing, but now they were scared to death.

"Mike! We gotta help them!" Will yelled in the heat of the moment, startling Mike.

"What? Why?" Mike asked in confusion, but before he could say anything else Will had already dragged him into the hallway to take a look at the horror show before them.

"That's what I wanted to tell you." He pointed at the people screaming and dying downstairs. Some were even trying to fight the monster, to no avail. Will felt dizzy like he was about to lose consciousness, so he leaned on the railing to regain his balance.   
"Where _is_ Dustin?"   
He asked in a worried tone, and he couldn't help but notice how Mike oddly looked betrayed and kind of... hurt?   
But then he just raised his hands and shook his head while his eyes looked like they could pop out of his sockets at any second.

"We must find him!"

"Wait, really? You wanna go down there?" Mike gestured to the stairs with a puzzled look on his face. Will looked at him like he was about to explode with anger.

"He's our friend, Mike, and I don't know about you but I'm not gonna leave him there!" He was about to leave, but Mike stopped him. It was the hundredth time he had stopped him from leaving, and now Will casually wondered whether Mike had been hitting the gym. _Inappropriate,_ he reproached himself. _Focus._

"That's not what I meant! I meant we should arm ourselves first. Ace's got a rifle in his car, let's go."

"Why on Earth would he keep a rifle in his car? Also how do you know so much about that jerk?"

"He's not a jerk and that is not the point, Will!"

"I'm not leaving Dustin out there and that's final!"

Will yanked his arm off Mike's hand and hastily ran down the stairs while Mike called his name from upstairs. With a sigh, he decided to follow Will into the mess the demogorgon had made.

Will looked in every direction, but he couldn't see Dustin anywhere, as if he had magically disappeared. He could only see a bunch of dead bodies on the floor and some people running away. _Where's the demogorgon?_

"Will, look out!" Mike screamed his lungs out, but Will just stared in confusion, and he would have died if Mike hadn't pushed him in time. The monster was clinging to the ceiling, ready to jump off on its prey, but Mike pushed Will out of the way so the demogorgon landed on the floor with a heavy thud. It approached the two boys while opening its jaws wide, showing its typical flower-shaped head and tiny, sharp teeth scattered along its gums.

Will was frozen in fear and could barely make out Mike's screaming through all the dazing chaos. All his senses were overwhelmed by the fear, the demogorgon's roars, and the dizziness; the room was spinning swiftly and he started panting uncontrollably. He took a good look at the deadly flower only a few feet before him, preparing for death.

He felt Mike's hands touching him everywhere as he was unsure of what to do to get Will to stand up. His ears were itching, both for the demogorgon and Mike's loud voice. Suddenly a loud gunshot was heard and it was followed by the demogorgon falling on its back as if a huge magnet had pulled it with force. Everything happened in a blur as if Will was dreaming everything, and it looked like a vivid dream in slow motion.

Will noticed Mike turning to see where the shot came from. He followed his gaze and it landed on a very scared Dustin, who was on the other side of the room. He had a rifle in his hands and it was still fuming from the recent gunshot.

"Guys, let's get out of here! Quick!" He shouted while gesturing to the exit with his free hand. This time Will stood up, waiting for Mike to do the same, and then they just ran without looking back. They went outside, where there were at least a dozen alive people left, and walked up to Ace, who was already in his car and ready to leave.

"Dude, you don't want your rifle back?" Dustin asked hurriedly.

"You can keep it, I'm out of here." Ace claimed — his ice-blue eyes full of fear.

"Wait! Let us come with you." Mike suggested while raising his hands. Ace had a funny look on his face; he looked like he wanted to leave them there to become the beast's food, or perhaps, that was what Will's deep hatred made him think.

"Sure, ok—"

"What about the demogorgon, Mike? What are we gonna do about it?" Will asked with a shaky voice before looking back at the bloody mess caused by the monster: the bodies were _everywhere_ and they almost formed a spiral in a grotesque way. Large pools of blood gathered under every corpse and the dark liquid eerily oozed out of the demogorgon's bites. Some of them even missed body parts such as limbs, faces or the entire heads. Some had the monster's bite marks on their stomachs or chests as if they had been half-eaten.

After seeing all those dead bodies, Will was about to freak out and he wondered how it could have killed so many people in such a short time span. As always, he looked up to Mike, even though he knew that he didn't care as he used to, especially after Mike gave him a _shut up_ look and snorted before speaking.

"What matters is that it's gone now." He glanced at Ace with a desperate look. He had the time to think: _Please don't hate me just because I'm talking to the school fag._  
Ace raised an eyebrow, but even he preferred not to make any comments in that situation.

"The others are leaving and we are the only retards who are still here." Ace affirmed, "We should leave this place before that thing comes back. Vic probably won't even sleep in his house after this."

”If he even survived," Dustin muttered, but everyone heard him. Will noticed Ace's face getting as red as a cherry as his anger was building up, so he shot a worried look at Dustin before changing the subject.

"Yeah, you're right, let's go." Will encouraged, flashing the fakest smile of his life. His hope was crushed when Ace frowned at him.

"Excuse me, but I don't remember inviting the fag and the weirdo in _my_ car."

Will stared at him, mouth agape. It was a matter of seconds before Mike snapped at him.

"Excuse me, but who the _fuck_ allowed you to speak to them like that?" Mike said in response, earning a glare from Ace. Will felt a rush of pleasure wash over him — _He stuck up for us._

"Do as you prefer, Wheeler. I'm not gonna force you." Ace said and Will perceived the hostility in his eyes, so he climbed on his bike and gestured for Dustin to follow him.

"Never mind, we'll just cycle home." Will declared, earning a disappointed look from Mike while Dustin nodded in response.   
Mike parted his lips to object, but then he just said: "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess." Will replied nonchalantly before disappearing in the woods.

After saying good night to Dustin, Will rode to Mirkwood and it was so dark and creepy he was starting to get paranoid. He tried to think about anything else but the Upside Down or the demogorgon.

He frowned to himself as he remembered Mike apologizing to him, feeling sorry despite not having even called him once to ask how he was doing. He remembered the troubled expression on his face, his strong, lean arms grabbing him to prevent him from leaving.   
He liked the way he grabbed his wrists, although he didn't understand why.

Mike was almost blustering during the brief conversation with Ace, he was acting like it was the first time he had ever talked to him and Dustin, as if he felt ashamed of them. For the whole year, Will had silently noticed how Mike behaved when he was with his new circle of friends — he acted more carefree, he laughed _way more_ and he did things he'd never done before like wearing punk clothes, getting more bad grades than usual or sitting with a lot of people at lunch.

Will realized that changing was part of growing up, but to him it still felt like Mike was just _acting_ because that wasn't the real him. Or at least that was what he thought, as he hoped that his best friend was still _his_, not someone else's. But then again he wanted him to be more than just that.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a wavy red mane before him. The girl was wearing a dark green hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans and she had a skateboard in her hands. She looked graceful under the pale moonlight, walking alone in the shady woods.   
Will stopped his bike when she turned. She gave him a confused look and he spoke first.

"Hi, Max." He merely said, forcing a smile. Talking to the standoffish redhead was never easy, according to Will, because he wasn't close to her and she usually was unfriendly to the people who barely talked to her. She waved at him without saying anything as she was probably not expecting _Will Byers_ to talk to her.

"What's up, Byers?" She walked up to him, but the puzzled expression on her face wasn't going away.

"I was at a party, but..."

"Wait, _you_... at a party?" She didn't even let him finish as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I was supposed to hang with Dustin, Mike and Lucas. Speaking about Lucas..." He remembered him not showing up at all, "Where is he?"

"Why, hasn't he told you? We were at the arcade." She declared and Will perceived a hint of disgust in her voice. She kept her arms crossed on her chest as though she wanted to be anywhere but there with Will.

"So he's doing okay," He said at last with genuine concern.

"So... how was the party?" She awkwardly asked, clearly at a loss for conversation topics.

"It was _fun_..." He coughed, earning a confused look from her. Despite wanting to speak about the demogorgon at Victor's house, he didn't feel comfortable enough with her yet, so he let it go.

"Did you talk to Mike?" She blurted almost without thinking, but she gasped immediately after asking, as if she had just told a secret to someone she wasn't supposed to. Will widened his eyes, and he thought _Why is he always present even when he's not with me?_  
He nodded in response and Max noticed the shame in his eyes.

"He said he wanted to talk to you."

"Really? After all this time he just told you he wanted to _talk _to me?" He said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Max instantly jumped as she didn't expect him to react like that.

"Well, yeah. He said..." She paused, thinking about what to say next, but then she rolled her eyes and sighed, giving up.   
"Actually, you know what? I don't really get this thing between you two. It's driving me nuts!" She shouted and Will winced.

"If he's got something so important to tell you, then why can't he just do it himself? Also I thought you guys were best friends, so what's the big deal? Can't you just sort it out and leave Lucas, Dustin and me out of it?" Her cheeks got hotter and redder and Will felt the tension building up progressively. She was right. Was it so hard to talk to your best friend? Perhaps it was harder after more than one year had passed.

"Also, can't you just cut the bullshit and get to the point where you admit you're hopelessly in love with each o—"

Will slammed a hand on her mouth to interrupt her.

"You're just like them, aren't you? You all think I'm a stupid queer and you don't even care about how I feel."

She pushed his hand off her mouth and sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't want her to touch him, but he let her anyways.

"But you didn't deny it, so... look, I'm not judging you for it—"

"I don't care, how dare you say something like that? I... we're just friends, any fool could see it."

"Well, I'm not here to tell you what to do, but it seems that you both have unresolved issues."

Will couldn't believe his ears. "Unresolved issues?" He repeated, "Just because _he _pretended like I didn't even exist for the whole year? I didn't do anything, he just started ignoring me for unknown reasons."

"But you didn't ask him what was wrong, or did you?"

"The point is... this is something between us, Max, okay? It's just..." Will trailed off and he knew he was about to break down and cry at that point, but he just didn't want her to see him do that. He wasn't going to speak his mind, not to her at least — he didn't even accept his crush himself, so why should he tell Max his secret?

They stayed silent for a while in the darkness of the woods; Will kept rubbing his arm with his hand and he was just standing there in bashfulness. How could she know about the crush he had on Mike? How could she notice it? What if the others noticed it, too?

"Will," She said after what seemed to be forever. Her eyes were glued to his, but he didn't dare look at her.   
"I know we aren't close, but I promise your secret is safe with me."

"What secret?" Will immediately said, and this time he looked up. She noticed the tears welling up in his eyes and he knew.  
  
"Come on, it's obvious. But please, don't worry about it, it's totally normal."

"Max, I don't know what the hell you're talking about—"

"You _do_ like him, don't you?"

_How can she know? I'm so screwed she's gonna tell everyone oh my god_

"N-No! At least, not like that..." Will looked down in embarrassment while Max got close to him and touched his shoulder. Even though she had never gotten close to Will, now she swore to herself that she genuinely cared about him and that she would have helped him with his _issue_. She didn't know what it was like to be queer, let alone hiding it for a long time.

Max thought he must have been feeling suppressed. _But is he really queer? What if I'm wrong? But look at those tears..._  
She was sure and she _knew_. She was good at detecting lies and most of all at sympathizing and understanding other people's traumas. She had experienced quite a few traumas herself.

Being gay and hiding it surely wasn't like being abused by your step-brother, but it certainly was something serious, since Will was holding his tears back.

"Come on, don't be sad," she playfully punched his shoulder, trying to lighten it up.   
"It's not the end of the world."

"Easy for you to say."

"So I'm right?"

"Yes, is that what you wanted to hear?" He raised his voice more than he meant to, but Max didn't want to be anywhere else. She pulled him into a tight hug, and at first he wasn't sure of how to act as he wasn't used to it; it was something utterly new to him.   
In the end, he hugged her back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading if you got to this point! Feel free to leave feedback (even negative but please explain why) and don't be too harsh, this is my first byler story lol


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